page_title: Ellis Martin
section_title: Ordnance Survey up to 1918
hierarchical_section_title: Ellis Martin / Career with Ordnance Survey / Ordnance Survey up to 1918
caption_attribution_description: English: Ordnance Survey map, 1902, Four miles to one inch Open book 210x157mm Reprint 500/1902. Arms of Queen Victoria. Cheshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire and Flintshire (detached). Parts of sheets 6, 10, 11, 14, 15.
context_page_description: Ellis Martin was an English commercial artist. For most of his working life he was employed by Britain's map making organisation the Ordnance Survey, for which he performed painting, drawing and calligraphy for their map and book covers, and for their advertisements. He was the first person to be employed by the Survey specifically as an illustrator.
context_section_description: By 1914 the Ordnance Survey, a government department, had the reputation for producing "the best maps in the world". Sales were to the War Office and to civil administrative departments, primarily of large-scale maps, but it had less interest in providing maps for the general public so the presentation and advertising was perfunctory. Commercial firms copied the Ordnance Survey work (either with or without permission) to produce publications with attractive covers, sometimes improperly describing their maps as "Ordnance" or even "Ordnance Survey", and sometimes the actual cartography was of a poor standard. Such maps sold profitably and well.
  A three-man committee under Sir Sydney Oliver was set up to investigate the matter and it recognised that new leisure pursuits such as cycling and motoring would lead to  a considerable demand for small-scale maps, such as 1 inch to 1 mile {1:63360). Those that were available from the Ordnance Survey were very poorly distributed with covers that were flimsy and mundane and gave little clue as to what was inside. The committee recommended that, in particular, maps should be widely advertised and they should have robust, attractive covers. However, before any improvements could get underway, war broke out, many staff went into active service, and only war maps were to be produced.
caption: Example Ordnance Survey map cover, 1902
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